Once upon a shadow
by NogamiNeuro1
Summary: This is beginning of a story I wrote a long time ago and never shared, this is a story of Eludin. If it becomes well liked I will post the continuation. Please mind that English is my 3rd language. Comments appreciated!
1. Chapter 1

Once upon a time... or rather once upon a place, upon a shadow, a shadow that wasn't quite obliged to follow the rules of time, and would always find a way to fit itself beyond its nagging reach.

Some believed he was a coward, escaping his throne, vanishing to nowhere - where the time flowed differently, finding comfort in those silly travels of his. Coming back after a centenary or two... who cares? After all he was just a coward escaping his duties, leaving his younger brothers to do the "dirty work".

Heh, he was tired of all of that now, especially now, if now was even a relevant term when going through shadow, it was very tiring.

A light broke through the shadow, so he took a step forward - outside, it was midnight, but the moon was full and much closer than usual so it was as bright as during the day.

A sound of rapid footsteps, and ragged breathing was heard.

"Ouch!" The young lady shouted in surprise, she looked like a regular high school girl; long black hair, neatly arranged high school uniform, a backpack, and an advanced cell phone in her hand.

If it wasn't the middle of the night, and the girl who just run into him, didn't instantly turn back with a fearful expression, then he wouldn't even consider that something was out of the ordinary.

But so it occurred that the moment the girl turned around to look behind her back, a pair of black bubbling things has appeared from just around the corner, following a sickening sweet smell of rotten meat and fresh blood.

"Run." She mumbled, or at least tried to, as her voice betrayed her turning into a weak whisper.

He wasn't sure which world he ended up on now, but the idea of running from the unknown, and into more unknown; wasn't very appealing, so he scouted his mind around for some information.

The black things didn't provide much, all there was in them was thirst and hunger; the girl however was panicking in her mind: apparently she was a 'normal human being', and those things were 'ghouls', sent by her classmate - a 'vampire', after she rejected his offer for a date. As a 'normal human being' she was not supposed to know that her classmate is a vampire, much less be able to handle his minions, and now she even involved an unrelated bystander, 'who has probably never seen a ghoul in his life!' Or so she thought.

'So basically she has no clue how to handle them'. He sighed in his mind. 'Well whatever goes, goes. Might as well figure out things by myself for a change.' He took a step toward the bubbling black things, which despite the term "ghouls" looked more like bloodthirsty slime mobs from a lame MMRPG.

"Wait! What do you think you're doing? You're going to get killed!" She tagged at his sleeve, trying to pull him away from the mobs, which by now were surprisingly close.

With a slightly wicked grin, he waved his hand horizontally, performing the act of gripping something - halfway through the motion the area in front and within his hand has significantly darkened and formed into a solid black weapon, a scythe.

Wielding this newly formed shadow-scythe he swiftly slashed the two ghouls in half within one motion.

The bubbling has stopped; the ghouls cased their advance toward them and collapsed on the floor, after a few moments disintegrating into puddles of meat and blood.

'So this is it? And here I thought they would be a little more challenging' He pondered. Behind him the girl gasped in surprise.

He turned, she backed off, letting go of his sleeve, clearly afraid of him now.

"Relax" His voice came out deep and smooth, "I'm not going to hurt you. If you would kindly point my way to the Kiryuin Academy, I would gladly leave, without mentioning this 'incident' to anyone" He gave her his best 'reassuring' smile, while his eyes took a soft blue color.

She blushed, suddenly flustered from the attention of the young handsome man, and after a brief moment of studying him she said -"It's that way" while pointing toward the eastern part of the road.

"Thanks" he replied. "Be careful on your way home" He added as he turned away.  
"You too!" she cheered, "Thank you for saving me!" and so footsteps were heard again, as she started heading back home.

To tell the truth he didn't need directions, after all a few minutes earlier he didn't even know that there's an academy close by, he simply picked the knowledge from the panicking young girl's mind during the fight.

Apparently this town. No. This world - was a regular human world. But there were monsters in it, monsters that blended in as humans, hiding their true nature, and this "Kiryuin Academy" was where they taught their young how to blend in. Of course, there were normal humans in there as well - for practices sake.

And thus he decided that it would be a very entertaining place to stay at. As a teacher.  
He did stuff like that in the past, he joined and studied material arts, magic, shadow summoning and other things as a student in different worlds, but this time he decided to be a teacher, after all that was who he was back at home.


	2. Chapter 2

As the huge round moon slowly sank behind the rural horizon, the shiny rising daylight revealed a rather small yellowish sun.  
And so as the yellow sun made its way toward the building's roofs rose another sun, the second sun, while similar in size to the first - emitted a completely different light, a blue light.

Eludin, basking in the bluish yellow light of the two suns (a combination that made a rather brightly white lit noon) decided that it would be the best time to secure himself his next workplace ~ for the next couple of decades or so.

After his encounter with the human schoolgirl last night, he secretly sneaked into the academy's campus and wandered around a bit; reaping information from the minds of the dwellers and sleepers of the night campus.

Because of that he knew now, that this world consisted of 4 suns and 2 moons.  
The first moon is only visible at twilight before the rise of the second moon that hides it with its huge round body of light.  
The suns however come at relatively same size and do not obstruct each other's light; moreover they rise in a certain order, which this world's inhabitants use to divide the time of day.

First raises the yellow sun to start the morning routines, then blue to marks the noon time and provide people with time to make a lunch break before the white sun rises to remind them of their work, and begin the afternoon time of day. Lastly a dim purple sun rises at the same time that the yellow one sinks, dimming the light of day into a pleasant evening, moving later into twilight (with the rise of the first moon and sinking of the blue sun) and deeper into the night as the final suns sink and hide behind the massive second moon of this world.

This information is to become very vital if Eludin wanted to become a teacher in this so called monster academy - as some creatures liked the light of certain suns or moons, and absolutely hated to go outside while others were still in the horizon.

That is to speak of, the noon white lit campus, was mostly deserted on the outside; the monsters of this world despised the yellow sun with all of their might and showed themselves outside only during the evening and deeper into the night.  
Because of this the academy was divided into "night group" and "day group".  
The night group was larger than the day group and consisted mainly of vampires, dark mages, night fairies and other dark oddities.  
The day group consisted mainly of fairies, nymphs, fawns, genies and other light creatures.  
Needless to say that both groups contained humans.

As he walked down the campus on his way to the main building, Eludin spotted a royal prince having his lunch alongside a wood nymph on one of the outdoors sitting areas of the campus.  
Right next to them sat a 'what Eluding assumed from reading his mind' human mage, reading something from a text book to a regular human girl.

The lovely teenage bunch didn't seem to notice Eludins passing, and he continued onward towards the main building.

To describe the building wouldn't do much justice, as the building's form seemed to change to the eye of the beholder.

The building itself contained a numerous practice rooms, classrooms, sitting rooms and dwellings for the inhabitants, the rooms seemed to shift and arrange themselves to the will of the older inhabitants thus providing the perfect comfort, and defense against any unwelcomed intruders.  
Eluding however was no intruder, as he inquired last night - this academy seemed to be in a desperate need of a teacher in the field of Herbalism.

It seems that the previous teacher was the only teacher in this field, and he taught both the day- and night group.  
Eludin was unable to find the reason for this teacher's sudden disappearance, but since 'disappearance' seemed to be a rather common occurrence in this place, he decided that it is best left unknown.

Herbalism was not Eludins specialty, if we're talking about one - then it should be magic, or at least some material arts like fighting techniques.  
But while he had no actual experience in the field, his knowledge was top notch, and his ability to learn and memorize was second to none.

And besides - with his natural immunity to all that is poisonous and ability to cure such poisons 'What could go wrong? '

So were his thoughts as he stood in front of a huge wooden door labeled as 'Director's office'.


	3. Chapter 3

Eludin intended to knock, but as the mere thought of such action occurred to him; the door flung open.

Swiftly dodging the opening door from hitting his face, Eludin locked his eyes with a pair of angrily glowing red eyes.  
The pair belonged to a silver haired teen looking youth, who glared at Eludin as he rushed past him, mumbling some vague curse from under his breath.

'And who might you be?' In the brightly lit room, behind a huge wooden desk, loaded with piles of papers that left almost no clear desk surface, sat a middle aged man, seemingly in his thirties - and yet just from the first glace Eludin knew that he was much older.

'Oh?' Eludin focused his attention on the man; he lost his focus for a second there, collecting information from his surroundings.  
'I'm sorry I forgot my manners for a second there' He said. 'My name is Eludin, I have come here looking for a job in this marvelous establishment, and I assure you I have the qualifications and the experience as a teacher'.

The middle aged man let out a sigh; 'I'm sorry...' he begun, but got interrupted by Eludin 'I excel in physical education, philosophy, history and herbalism.'

The middle aged man shook his head and started again: 'I'm sure that the young gentleman excels in many things but... Wait? You said herbalism?!' The man stared at eluding in bewilderment.

'That I did, I also happen to have heard that you are looking for a teacher in this subject' Eludin gave the man a smirk-like smile.

'Oh…' The man stared at Eludin with more interest '…and where might have you heard that?'.  
'Why from the student themselves, of course' Eluding answered confidently, maintaining his slightly curved smile.

'Hmmm...' The man stretched back in his chair. 'I don't know what you've heard about this place, but this Academy is...' He paused, unsure how to describe his establishment.

'I know' Eludins smile only grew wider, and his eyes took a forest green color; he was enjoying this conversation.

'Other than being an academy, this place is a house, a home, a refuge some might you call it. For all of those - who dwell under the different suns and moons of this world.'

The other man, who was attentively listening to Eludin's description; nodded,

'So you realize that I cannot guarantee your safety, as a teacher, and a regular human on top that...'

Eluding feigned a surprised look 'Do I really seem like a human to you?'

'Are you not?' The man stared at Eludin even more intensely then before.

'I cannot confirm any magical, bestial or godly properties within you, and since you're not anything mythical I simply assumed that you are a human... But now that you've mentioned it, it seems that I cannot fully confirm that you are a human either... Interesting…' For the first time since their encounter begun, the sitting man smiled.

'It seems that I've overestimated myself, I apologies' the man gestured towards an empty chair, located in front of the desk.

'My name is Cadvar, and as you've probably guessed, I'm the director of this humble establishment.'

It seems that the negative pressure from before has evaporated, and instead the room was filled with a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, but as Eluding took his seat in front of Cadver, Cadvers expression has suddenly darkened, giving Eluding a serious and even threatening look.

'So what kind of being are you?' He asked, 'That's private' Eluding answered instantly, while keeping eye contact.

'Hmm... Then allow me to ask you a couple of questions about yourself;' 'Of course'.

Cadvar stared at Eluding for a long minuet before starting his first official job interview.

-

Elric's Pov

-

'That stupid director, was so annoying sometimes! He somehow noticed that a couple of cemetery's ghouls went missing last night, and whose scent did the investigating dogs find? His, of course!' The silver eyed glared at anyone coming within eyesight in the corridors of the academy, but since so few have been roaming these halls during daylight he was mainly glaring at paintings.

'And that bitch Halmaya! How dare she not only reject his generous offer to make her his woman, but to even escape his pursuit after class, and destroy his ghouls! A mare human resisting a pure blood ancient vampire, of a pure royal line! Such things were unthinkable!'

He kicked the door to the night groups dwellings lounge room loudly, not caring if he awoke any of his slumbering mates in the process; he headed to his room and threw himself on the bed.

'It wasn't fair! Why did he have to be punished for what he did!? It's that bitch Halmaya who should be punished instead! And besides it's not like he hurt anyone! Even if the ghouls have caught Halmaya, the worst they could do was capturing her, and bring her back with them to the cemetery. He carefully instructed them not to hurt the human girl! And even should they come within sight of normal humans, they could just pretend that they are seeing things! It was unfair! For him, a pureblood vampire from a royal line that lived since this worlds creation to become in charge of the cleaning of the old herb storage room!'

Elric buried his face within his pillow, while kicking the bed with all his might.

'The herbs storage room was left unused for years! Even the late Herbalism teacher Mr,Murase didn't set foot in there. Who knows what might be growing in there now?! If Elric encounters some strange diseases it's that damn Halmaya's bitches fault! He'll get her back for this!'

And with these thoughts in mind, the agitated vampire has finally fallen into slumber.


End file.
